All posts tagged Philippines

A plane carrying some Philippine cabinet officials assisting with Pope Francis’s visit to the country skidded off the runway of Tacloban airport on Saturday, shortly after the jet carrying the pontiff safely took off for the flight back to Manila. Read More »

Pope Francis Saturday cut short his trip to the central Philippine island of Leyte, the birthplace of Catholicism in the country, as tropical storm Mekkhala moved closer to the region, threatening to ground his plane if he kept to his original schedule. Read More »

Pope Francis hopefully is bringing an umbrella when he begins his visit to the Philippines Thursday.

Tropical storm Mekkhala isn’t expected to make landfall but should bring rains, especially in Tacloban, the central city devastated by Typhoon Haiyan in November 2013 and the venue of an open-air mass to be celebrated by Pope Francis on Saturday. Read More »

Kristy Allen-Shirley, the South Asia and Pacific communications director for the international aid organization World Vision, said initial reports indicated tsunami waves were small in the Philippines and Indonesia, causing minimal damage, though there are still many areas that haven’t yet been reached for updates.

“We’re really focusing our teams on the Pacific now,” she said, including countries such as Papua New Guinea and Vanuatu, which are believed to still be highly vulnerable. World Vision staff in Papua New Guinea have pre-positioned supplies for up to 2,000 people in case the waves cause major damage, the group said. Read More »

Jack Castano III, a public information officer in the governor’s office in Batanes, a small island province in the northern Philippines midway between the Philippines and Taiwan, said “the entire population” of his town of 1,200 residents was awaiting an order to evacuate, if necessary.

In the Albay province south of Manila, people were already evacuating early Friday evening in anticipation of a possible tsunami. Read More »